Obama’s Attorney General Nominee in Boiling Water Over Banking Scandal

Her nomination is stalled, caught up in a deepening investigation in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The woman President Obama wants to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder as the nation’s top law enforcement officer could be facing legal troubles herself, the kind that might derail her hopes to head the Justice Department.

According to a lengthy and detailed report by Jerome Corsi at WND, Loretta Lynch is now being investigated by the very senate committee considering her nomination to become one of the most powerful officials in the Obama administration.

Listen to Dr. Corsi’s interview about the scandal on The Joe Miller Show:

At the heart of this reported Senate probe are allegations of money laundering by international banking giant HSBC and the role that Lynch, as a U.S. attorney in New York, may have played in the Obama administration’s decision not to prosecute HSBC and certain of its top officials.

The exclusive WND report states that the Senate Judiciary Committee has been working with a whistleblower, a former HSBC vice president, who is providing critical information about the financial institution’s alleged laundering of funds for Mexican drug cartels and Middle Eastern terrorists.

The staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee focused Wednesday on Cruz’s allegations, first reported by WND Feb. 6, that Lynch, acting then in her capacity as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, engaged in a Department of Justice cover-up . . .

Ironically, when he nominated Lynch for the Justice post, President Obama praised her for prosecuting “drug lords and terrorists.” Now, claims the WND exclusive, Lynch could find herself in boiling hot water for not prosecuting powerful bankers allegedly involved with drug lords and terrorists. (Read more about the scandal involving the attorney general nominee HERE)

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Psychologist in Chris Kyle Murder Trial Gives Critical Testimony

Photo Credit: NY Post By Danika Fears. The man who killed “American Sniper” Chris Kyle and his pal was in a state of pot-induced psychosis when he shot them but knew what he was doing was wrong, a forensic psychologist testified Friday.

Dr. Randall Price determined that Eddie Ray Routh, 27, doesn’t meet the state’s definition of ­insanity, the Dallas Morning News reported.

“He did know what he was doing was wrong, and he did it anyway,” Price testified, adding Routh that suffers from a personality disorder instead of schizophrenia. (Read more about the testimony from the Chris Kyle murder trial HERE)

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Oscars Host Calls American Sniper ‘the Oprah’ Over the Other Nominees

By Real Clear Politics. Congratulating this year’s nominees for Best Picture, host of this year’s Oscars Neil Patrick Harris took note that American Sniper alone has raked in more at the box office than all the other nominees combined.

“Congratulations to all the nominees, especially for the 8 films up for Best Picture. They have grossed over $600 million,” Harris said.

“American Sniper alone is responsible for over $300 million of that,” Harris said. “So congratulations to them.”

“To put that in perspective, everyone on this side of the theater is the 7 other nominees and American Sniper is Oprah.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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How Does Your State Rank in Church Attendance?

A new Gallup poll offers some clues about Americans’ church attendance—and the sizeable difference depending on the state where you live.

Gallup asked 177,030 American adults, “How often do you attend church, synagogue or mosque—at least once a week, almost every week, about once a month, seldom or never?” It ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia according to how many responded that they attend religious services “at least once a week.”

Residents of Utah are most likely to attend a religious service weekly. According to Gallup, Utah owes its No. 1 ranking to Mormons, who “have the highest religious service attendance of any major religious group in the U.S.”

Utah is followed by Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas.

[Editor’s note: Alaska ranks in the bottom ten states in the nation for church attendance, along with Colorado, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Vermont. Only one out of four Alaskans attend church regularly]

(Read more about each states rank in church attendance HERE)

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Shocker: Brian Williams Hasn’t Donated a Dime to His Cash-Strapped High School

By Natalie O’Neill and Gary Buiso. Brian Williams plays fast and loose with the truth, but apparently keeps a tight grip on his wallet.

The disgraced NBC newsman hasn’t given a dime to his old New Jersey high school, which is trying to raise enough dough just to stay open, principal Craig Palmer told The Post.

Middletown’s Mater Dei Prep warns it will be forced to shut its doors by June if it doesn’t raise enough cash. Earlier this month, supporters launched a campaign to raise $1 million.

The school has raised $427,000, but is still waiting to hear from its most famous graduate, according to Palmer.

Earlier this month, Williams, 55, said he was “heartbroken” when he learned of the school’s sorry financial state. (Read more about Williams never donating to his cash-strapped high school HERE)


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What Brian Williams Could Learn From Bill O’Reilly

By Andrew Wallenstein. The evidence is mounting that Bill O’Reilly fudged the truth of his coverage of the Falklands War, much the way Brian Williams did same regarding his time in Iraq.

Debate all you want whether one man’s words were more inaccurate than the other’s. But how they chose to react to their respective controversies is quite different, and perhaps will make all the difference in determining their fates . . .

Sadly, the way Williams chose to rise above the fray is not a countermeasure that works well in these fevered, Twitter-driven times. To suggest that you are too high and mighty to dignify allegations with anything more than a rote response is a bygone from a long-ago era.

When a celebrity in the crosshairs goes silent, it creates a vacuum more deafening than the din of the accusations being leveled. It conjures up images of backroom spin doctors helping the privileged cover up their crimes. Once that enters the picture, you’re already dead.

O’Reilly didn’t let that happen. He reacted with instant indignance. It’s as if he’s so outraged by the allegations that he can’t shut up. That’s the way to go. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Bank Hackers Stole Hundreds of Millions via Malware

In late 2013, an A.T.M. in Kiev started dispensing cash at seemingly random times of day. No one had put in a card or touched a button. Cameras showed that the piles of money had been swept up by customers who appeared lucky to be there at the right moment.

But when a Russian cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky Lab, was called to Ukraine to investigate, it discovered that the errant machine was the least of the bank’s problems.

The bank’s internal computers, used by employees who process daily transfers and conduct bookkeeping, had been penetrated by malware that allowed cybercriminals to record their every move. The malicious software lurked for months, sending back video feeds and images that told a criminal group — including Russians, Chinese and Europeans — how the bank conducted its daily routines, according to the investigators . . .

Kaspersky Lab says it has seen evidence of $300 million in theft through clients, and believes the total could be triple that. But that projection is impossible to verify because the thefts were limited to $10 million a transaction, though some banks were hit several times. In many cases the hauls were more modest, presumably to avoid setting off alarms . . .

But the largest sums were stolen by hacking into a bank’s accounting systems and briefly manipulating account balances. Using the access gained by impersonating the banking officers, the criminals first would inflate a balance — for example, an account with $1,000 would be altered to show $10,000. Then $9,000 would be transferred outside the bank. The actual account holder would not suspect a problem, and it would take the bank some time to figure out what had happened. (Read more about how the bank hackers stole millions HERE)

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Ben Carson Gearing Up for Presidential Run After Claiming Obama May be Guilty of Treason [+video]

Photo Credit: Getty Images
Ben Carson Hires Fundraising Adviser

By Alexandra Jaffe. Ben Carson is expanding his fundraising operation, bringing on a senior adviser with ties to Newt Gingrich to run his small-dollar fundraising efforts if he runs for president.

Mike Murray, president and CEO of TMA Direct, a direct-mail firm that does work for conservative organizations and outlets ranging from the National Rifle Association to National Review, would oversee Carson’s grassroots fundraising, if the retired neurosurgeon makes a play for the White House.

He’s expressed interest in a run, and has begun testing the waters in early primary states and hiring staff. In January, he hired a former Michele Bachmann staffer to help him build his operation in Iowa. (Read more from this story about Ben Carson HERE)

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Ben Carson: Obama May Be Guilty of Treason

By Alex Griswold. Appearing on Newsmax TV, famed neurosurgeon and potential 2016 Republican candidate said he believes President Obama could be guilty of treason if he continues to block Homeland Security funding for national security.

(Read more about Obama being guilty of treason HERE)

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Documents Show the Expensive Tastes of Jeb Bush’s “Low-Key” Wife

In 1999, Columba Bush, the famously private wife of then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was detained and fined by federal customs officials for misrepresenting the amount of clothing and jewelry she had bought while on a solo five-day shopping spree in Paris.

The incident left the Florida first lady deeply mortified and her husband politically chagrined. Jeb Bush said the first lady had misled customs officials because she did not want him to know that she had spent about $19,000 on the trip.

“The embarrassment I felt made me ashamed to face my family and friends,” Columba Bush said in a July 1999 speech to the Central Florida Make-a-Wish Foundation, not long after the incident. “It was the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life.”

The ordeal did not stop her from spending freely, however. Less than a year later, she took out a loan to buy $42,311.70 worth of jewelry on a single day, according to records filed with the state of Florida by Mayors Jewelers.


That purchase was part of a pattern by Columba Bush of borrowing to buy tens of thousands of dollars of jewelry at a time from the South Florida store over a 14-year period. Documentation available online, which does not include the details of two transactions made less than six weeks apart in 1995, shows that she spent a total of more than $90,000 at the store. (Read more about the expensive tastes of Jeb Bush’s wife HERE)

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The Faithless Elected: Boehner and the House Dons

More than any other member of Congress, John Boehner has been responsible for violating critical Republican campaign promises essential to his becoming Speaker. To use a Wall Street Journal characterization of the first President Bush (July 2, 1990, A8), Boehner has “emerge[d] as the leader of the people whose … policies [his party] defeated.”

Broken promises are far worse than a mere source of unhappiness on the part of those with particular policy interests. Jude Wanniski succinctly articulated the harm caused by “promis[ing] the voters sunshine before the elections [and] delivering moonshine afterward. Democracy cannot work if politicians do not keep most of their promises ….”

“People expect politicians to lie,” James Taranto recently wrote. With a boys-will-be-boys attitude, jaded “sophisticates” wink at campaign lying. However, for those in a frustrated majority, who consider Obama-Boehner Care to be the most gargantuan and harmful fraud ever perpetrated in this country, it is long overdue to stop expecting and accepting campaign lying. It is time to understand that this pernicious practice vitiates representative government, whose essence is that voters choose who represents them.

In his opinion, on behalf of the Supreme Court, rescuing Obama-Boehner Care and the multiple lies essential to its passage, Chief Justice Roberts declared: “our Nation’s elected leaders … can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. [Therefore, it] is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.” But, when election results are produced by blatant lies by unscrupulous candidates who have no intention of keeping their word, Roberts’ opinion is arguably a libel against the American people. (In legitimizing lies, Roberts was dishonest himself. See here and here.)

As is true of other decisions (e.g., doctor or product selection), information is essential to “political choices.” Obviously, decisions based on faulty information are often wrong, harmful or disastrous. That is why laws, with stiff criminal penalties, have been passed requiring truthful corporate reports to investors and accurate manufacturers’ package labels.

The most important political campaign information is a candidate’s positions, at least regarding matters of most concern. When campaigning becomes an exercise in lying about, rather than trying to justify the merits of, where candidates stand, voting becomes a pointless charade. Voters get the satisfaction of having complied with preaching to do their “civic duty” while really buying a pig in a poke.

Voters are consumers, consumers of the government they choose. Congress has enacted countless laws, with criminal penalties, against false advertising (e.g., here, here, here, here) precisely to protect consumer choices. This is one reason products contain numerous warning labels, many absurd. As with many other laws, members of Congress do not apply truth-in-labeling requirements to themselves. But given recent experience, perhaps, at campaign appearances, candidates should be required to wear warning labels listing the dangers they pose. If manufacturers are required to provide labels warning about dangers, what could be more dangerous than a member of Congress? As Mark Twain famously quoted Judge Tucker (249): “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” Add an exclamation point while Boehner is Speaker.

Numerous voters might be unaware that lies to Congress are a crime but lies by legislators to voters are not. Members of Congress seem oblivious to the irony of their own virulent campaign-lying at a time when non-members can be punished for anything including failure to provide very vaguely defined (2) “honest services.”

The Consequence of Consequences

“I won,” declared Barack Obama, adding what is now a cliché: “Elections have consequences.” Well, Boehner and his henchmen have proven that that is only partly true. There are certainly consequences when a community organizer, longtime friend of unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers and disciple of Saul Alinsky runs with a deceptively non-threatening vague message giving few clues as to what he really intends to do. But there are no significant consequences, when Republicans win complete congressional control by campaigning in unison on an unmistakably strong message to undo the consequences of the community organizer.

Well, these Republicans must be sent a clear message. Failing to deliver promised electoral consequences will have consequences. Broken campaign promises must, or should, result in election removal.

The Insignificance of Significant Issues.

It is a mistake to focus upon particular critical issues such as taxes, abortion, spending, illegal immigration, Obama-Boehner Care. On these issues, President Obama has been the driving force but John Boehner has been the sustaining force. In turn, what has empowered and sustained Boehner has been a malignant cancer afflicting the body politic: campaign lying. The worst lying is done by the worst promise-breakers: those who make promises on specific matters and then disingenuously vote to retain a Speaker determined to block carrying out those promises. Instead of trying to keep their promises on matters most important to the voters who elected them, these people devote themselves to the task of trying to convince the voters that they tried – despite having put in place a Speaker who would make “trying” futile.

While it would be delusional for conservatives to expect anything from Obama, they have every right to expect a Republican Speaker to be on their side. Instead, he works against them with fancy footwork. In 2010, Boehner protested that Pelosi violated House Rules to impose ObamaCare. But in 2014, in order to steamroll Cromnibus, the Boehner bunch had no trouble violating the rules they professed to worship.

To be precise, at a time of Democrat contempt for law as well as rules, Boehner pretended the rules were sacred in order to prevent exercise of power of the purse to defund Obama-Boehner Care; and he completely disregarded the rules in order to needlessly surrender the same power of the purse and thereby reject the 2014 election results before the new Congress took office. This is dishonesty of the most damaging and serious magnitude on the gravest issues of the day. (Incidentally, Rules Committee members who profess fealty to the rules above all else disingenuously disregard that one of their functions is to grant waivers of rules.)

To Boehner and his toadies, truth means little or nothing. But, if representative government, now on life support, is to be saved, truth must be made to mean everything. Just as cancers must be removed to save people, lying legislators must be defeated to save the Framers’ republican legacy.

There can be no success on any issue important to conservatives unless they first elect candidates who tell the truth about what they have done and will do. That cannot occur unless lying is elevated to the top or sole campaign issue. Dishonest campaigners must be defeated as often as it takes, by doing whatever it takes. It is not enough for conservatives to sit out elections and cease giving funds to dishonest Republicans. Conservatives must vote against these Republicans, first in primaries and, however painful, if necessary in the worst cases, by voting for Democrats in general elections. The gravest specific issues will not be addressed without prior removal of representatives who promise, but refuse, to take them on.

A liar is a liar is a liar! Republican liars are no better than Democrat liars. Although Chief Justice Roberts disavows responsibility to “protect the voters from the consequences of their political choices,” this is especially inapplicable to choices based on lies (unless Roberts does not think accurate information is necessary for voter choices). As Roberts well knows, “fraud” is legally defined as knowing misrepresentation of material facts that are relied upon to the detriment of anyone relying on such misrepresentation. It is simply untrue and – yes – a lie to say that a majority of voters ever chose the worst policies of the last five years – policies that John Boehner and representatives who elected him Speaker have ratified, while denying any responsibility.

William Buckley’s Wisdom

Ideally, it is tempting to “throw all the bums out.” But, obviously, that is very unlikely. At the outset, it would be best to concentrate on selected worst bums. We don’t give up trying to catch and punish criminals because many of them, likely a majority, get away with their crimes. But they must be on notice that they can’t always succeed. Similarly, whenever possible, lying to the voters must be punished too.


When conservatives fail to defeat RINOs in primaries, there is an alternative. By 1988, realizing that no new Democrat could do as much damage as senior RINO Senator Lowell Weiker, William F. Buckley, Jr., Connecticut’s conservative icon, endorsed and helped elect Democrat Joseph Lieberman.

Now, as then, the worst RINOs are indistinguishable from the worst Democrats. In 2016, these people should be punished for their duplicity. If at all possible, they should be defeated by conservative Republicans in primaries or, if not, conservative voters must swallow the bitter pill of voting for Democrat opponents of the most dangerous Republicans. These surely include Boehner, Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, and Pete Sessions. Their recent perfidy shows beyond question that they must be replaced. Because colleagues refuse to remove the current House Republican Dons from House leadership, they must be removed from the House altogether. They should be defeated in their home districts.

In murder cases, some argue that capital punishment should be reserved for the “worst of the worst.” Well, the worst of the worst Republicans must be subjected to political capital punishment. In 2016, if conservatives are really serious, they at least must vote against the worst. If the only way to remove current House leaders – who act like Democrats anyway – is to vote for their Democrat opponents, so be it. It is campaign lying that renders almost impossible any action supported by majority voters on particular issues. Lying is and must be the central issue, if the today’s children are to enjoy, as adults, freedom and self-government in the United States.

Because betrayed conservatives have counted on Republicans to provide a viable alternative, defeating Republican campaign liars is paramount. Political cancer cells must be removed. When they break their word, that should be the main, perhaps the only, issue in ensuing campaigns.

What if voting for Democrats causes Republicans to lose their majority in the Senate or the House? The short answer: so what! Just look at what the current crop of Republicans have done to maintain Obama-Pelosi dictatorial policies. They must be defeated in order to be replaced.

Lying has been central to this country’s decay. For example, multiple lies were essential to the infliction of the affliction of Obama Care. Republicans lied to gain control of the House to cure the affliction. They did not, instead electing John Boehner Speaker. Without Boehner, Obama Care would not have been saved; but, instead, it was converted into Obama-Boehner Care. In turn, Boehner would not be Speaker without lies.

First and foremost, campaign lying and liars must be stopped. This is an absolute prerequisite to everything else conservatives desire. (See “The Faithless Elected: Boehner and the House Dons”, originally posted HERE)

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Lester Jackson, Ph.D., a former college political science teacher, views mainstream media suppression of the truth as essential to harmful judicial activism. His recent articles are collected here.

The Making of Hillary 5.0; Marketing Wizards Trying to Re-Imagine Clinton Brand

As she readies her second presidential campaign, Clinton has recruited consumer marketing specialists onto her team of trusted political advisers. Their job is to help imagine Hillary 5.0 — the rebranding of a first lady turned senator turned failed presidential candidate turned secretary of state turned likely 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

Clinton and her image-makers are sketching ways to refresh the well-established brand for tomorrow’s marketplace. In their mission to present voters with a winning picture of the likely candidate, no detail is too big or too small — from her economic opportunity agenda to the design of the “H” in her future campaign logo.

“It’s exactly the same as selling an iPhone or a soft drink or a cereal,” said Peter Sealey, a longtime corporate marketing strategist. “She needs to use everything a brand has: a dominant color, a logo, a symbol. . . . The symbol of a Mercedes is a three-pointed star. The symbol of Coca-Cola is the contour bottle. The symbol of McDonald’s is the golden arches. What is Clinton’s symbol?”

Clinton’s challenge is unique. Unlike potential Republican challengers of relatively middling fame who are introducing themselves to a national audience for the first time, Clinton is almost universally recognized. Love her or loathe her, potential voters know who she is after more than two decades in public life . . .

In politics, authenticity can be a powerful trait, and it is one that sometimes has escaped Clinton. In her 2008 presidential campaign, despite some raw displays of emotion, she often came across as overly programmed. (Read more about the marketing wizards trying to re-imagine the Clinton brand HERE)

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Opinion: If You Believe in State Sovereignty, Help us Block these Confirmations [+video]

At no other time in Alaskan history has it been more critical to block the nomination of two individuals for ANY position in Alaska’s government. I am writing you today in the hopes that you will contact every legislator, especially your state senator, to block the nominations of Mike Hanley for Commissioner of Education and Esther Cox for State School Board. Please call, write, and if possible, show up in person and dig in to block their appointment.

If you believe in State Sovereignty, you should oppose their confirmation. As Commissioner, Mike Hanley led the move for Alaska to join the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia. The move was supported by Esther Cox, School Board President.

Had there not been a significant grassroots backlash and threats to take action under Alaska’s procurement laws, Alaska would have lost control of education matters to this California-based consortium. The consortium agreement would have dictated that the state of Alaska obey rules and regulations passed by a group of other individuals that Alaskans did not elect and were not accountable to Alaskans.

If you believe that public officials should be honest to the state legislature and to the people of Alaska, you should oppose the nominations of Mike Hanley and Esther Cox. Even if you like the Common Core Standards, Alaskans should have an honest and open discussion on these standards. This has never happened because Mike Hanley has continued to misrepresent the truth to the Alaskan people and the legislature, with the blessing of Esther Cox.

•January 23, 2013, Mike Hanley told federal race to the top officials at the US Department of Education that Alaska’s standards are identical to the Common Core.

•June 3, 2013, Mike Hanley told the House Education Committee that the standards were 95% Common Core.

•On June 20, 2013, in written answers to the House Education Committee he stated that Alaska’s standards were close enough to the Common Core for a Common Core test to be valid.

•January 7, 2014, Mike Hanley testified to the State Senate that Alaska’s Standards are not Common Core.

•March 25, 2014, Mike Hanley stated it was false that Alaska’s Standards were 95% Common Core.

•February 4, 2015, Mike Hanley stated that the standards were “common core in outputs but not in inputs.”

The standards are not the only issue upon which Mike Hanley has played fast and loose with the truth. Hanley has repeatedly insisted that there was no money tied to the ESEA flexibility waiver. For example, on February 4, 2015, Mike Hanley reiterated that there was no money tied to the Elementary and Secondary Act Waiver from the U.S. Department of Education. However, Deputy Commissioner Les Morse indicated in his testimony before the House Finance Subcommittee Committee on the Department of Education and Early Development a few days later that all the Title funds were connected to testing, a requirement of the waiver, and that several full time positions at DEED were 100% federally funded due to the waiver.

On February 4, 2015, Esther Cox told the House Education Committee that she approved the Alaska Standards after she read them. She further indicated that she had no idea how much the standards would cost because she didn’t live and breathe education matters.Yet, she is the President of the Alaska School Board; shouldn’t she have a ballpark estimate?

Commissioner Hanley also was the motivating force behind joining Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia (SBAC), the Race to the Top consortium based out of California. In that agreement, Hanley committed the state to digital investment that still have local district budgets reeling. He committed the state to an assessment schedule that have cost the state millions of dollars. Further, he had indicated to the House Education Committee that SBAC was only a test, but his presentation five days later on June 7, 2013 highlighted the opportunity to use curriculum provided by them and cost benefits of that digital content to Alaska’s administrators. This again, was with the approval of Esther Cox.

It was Commissioner Hanley who supported Alaska’s P-12 student data to be used in a P-20W database by ACPE. This is a federally funded project with federally funded positions that meet monthly with the U.S. Department of Education. ACPE’s claim is that there is no right of opting out of this database and that parents consented when they enroll their children in public school in Alaska. Plans continue on the part of ACPE to market Alaska’s K-12 data through their Data Mart project with the consent and approval of Commissioner Mike Hanley and School Board President Esther Cox.

As revealed in the Hearings before the House Education Committee on February 9, 2015, not one family is known to have consented to their child’s data being shared or marketed in this project. Data from Alaskan students from the Online Alaska School Information System (OASIS) are being combined with the Permanent Fund data for cross referencing with other state databases and bundled into marketable items. This is what the Hanley-Cox regime has allowed to occur. It may seem inconceivable, yet, Hanley and Cox approved this project, and the Data Mart project to sell your child data, including test SBAtest scores, as well as the data on school employees, from the teacher to the lunch room monitors that would ordinarily be part of their personnel file.

What home school family can possibly forget that it was Commissioner Hanley and Esther Cox’s push for home school families to buy only curriculum that aligns with the Alaska Common Core Standards? What home school family can forget Hanley and Cox’s support of Senate Bill 9 in 2012 that would have criminalized home school?

Never, in the history of all of Alaska has any education administration been more against the rights of parents and against the privacy rights of Alaskans.


More recently, school board members came to Juneau to attempt to get many of the unfunded mandates of the Hanley/Cox regime off their plate. Legislators listened intently, but the Alaska Department of Education turned a deaf ear as did Alaska School Board President Esther Cox.

What district educator or principal can forget that it was Mike Hanley and Esther Cox who supporting the adaptive testing and the costs associated with these tests? What property tax payer can forget the impact on local budgets these measures are having as well as the loss of state and local control over education?

Recently Commissioner Hanley, with the support of Esther Cox, has attempted to expand the Alaska Department of Education’s authority to preschool and college. Perhaps once they were about education, but their actions since they have been in office suggest they are far more concerned about their own political power.

Soon it will be apparent that the measures undertaken by the Alaska Department of Education under the Hanley-Cox regime will consume over 50% of Alaska’s state budget. This isn’t my view; this was the conclusion of the Sustainability Task Force Chaired by Rep. Lynn Gattis and presented in the waning days 2014.

Please, for the sake of Alaska’s sovereignty, for the sake of honest government, for the sake of fiscal integrity, for your privacy rights, write and call your legislators and block the nomination of Mike Hanley for Commissioner and Esther Cox for Alaska School Board. Follow up with a letter to Governor Walker and let your voice be heard.

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